Tags:

It’s rare for a judge to express regret over her own ruling. But that’s what happened Wednesday, when Judge Colleen McMahon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York reluctantly ruled that the Obama administration does not need to provide public justification for its deadly drone war.

Tags:

The American Civil Liberties Union and a host of researchers and breast cancer patients aren't the only losers in Friday's appellate ruling that Myriad Genetics has the right to patents on isolated breast cancer genes. The Obama Administration's Justice Department offered wholehearted support to opponents of human gene patents, splitting with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to argue that human DNA should not be eligible for patent protection. Friday's ruling by a deeply-divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit explicitly rejects the Justice Department's arguments in favor of longstanding PTO precedent.

from Tales from the Trail:

Tags:

As Arizona prepares to implement a controversial law cracking down on illegal immigrants, the American Civil Liberties Union has issued a travel alert advising visitors to the desert state of their civil rights if stopped by police.

from Tales from the Trail:

Tags:

Just because a president orders something done, that don't make it happen.

A year after President Barack Obama ordered the closure of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the facility is still open and holding 196 terrorism suspects the United States has captured.

from Tales from the Trail:

Tags:

U.S. President Barack Obama has taken some bold steps on civil rights during his first year in office, such as ordering an end to torture and the closure of the Guantanamo Bay military prison, but his overall record is mixed, the American Civil Liberties Union said on Tuesday.

from Tales from the Trail:

Tags:

Much has been made over the past few months by some Republicans in Congress about whether terrorism suspects arrested overseas by U.S. military forces must be read their legal rights and the answer has been largely no.